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AW Shields

@awshields

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Ecowomanist Abolitionist & Healing Justice Practioner @therootcrew

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We are just over a month out from election day on Tuesday, November 3, but early voting has already begun in many states.

Although the president isn’t on the ballot this year, so many causes that affect our day-to-day life are.

At @ficpfmovement's regional gathering in Chicago, AW Shields was moved by the Vote in Her Honor Campaign, an invitation from @il_arj to vote in the honor of the 1,446 women in the Illinois Department of Corrections who are unable to vote in the upcoming elections due to disenfranchisement as a result of their incarceration.

Consider voting in Her Honor this election season and lift up the name of one of these women who cannot cast their own ballot by visiting ILARJ.org/pledge. ✨

You do not have to live in Illinois to participate. You vote. She counts. Take the pledge. 💚

#VoteInHerHonor #Abolition #Wellness #ElectionSeason by @awshields

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a day ago

Last month, we gathered in Oakland with participants in @dream.corps Oakland Area Green Reentry program, which connects justice-impacted people to green career training and job opportunities.

Over the program’s eight weeks, Root Cause founder AW Shields and trauma recovery coach, Kia Davis, led virtual wellness workshops and group coaching sessions, where participants dug into emotional boundaries, impostor syndrome, and balancing reentry, work, family, and personal wellbeing.

To close it out, the group came together in person for an identity-based ritual honoring each participant’s journey through the program. They reflected on the gifts they bring to every community they’re part of, and how to care for their own wellbeing in the midst serving others.

Mental health tools should feel practical, accessible, and connected to people’s real lives. This is especially true for folks stepping into new roles, environments, and chapters. Sharing this space with participants as they closed one chapter and opened another was an honor.

Shoutout to the entire Dream.org team for the intentionality they brought to every detail, from program content to the folks in the room. We can’t wait to work together again. ✨

#HealingJustice #RootCauseCollective #LiberationWork #DecolonizingWellness taken in Oakland, California by @awshields

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7 days ago

The 💎s of wisdom this 2026 hell of a 🔥🐎summer gave:
1) People will eventually treat you how you treat yourself.🪞

2) Unhealthy relationships only last because you let them.✌🏾

3) Having the courage to live authentically is literally sharing the gospel God intended to write through your life when they put a little piece of themselves in your very existence. 🦄

4) Receiving help, and letting real love in might be the most underrated spiritual discipline out there. Thanks Village! 🫂

5) Starting over and reinventing yourself is kind of chic! 💅🏾✨

A summer for the books; a time well spent! 🐦‍🔥

Happy Autumn Equinox Friends! 🍂 by @awshields

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11 days ago

To the beautiful souls who said yes to the nudge of the Spirit to being a vessel of love, affirmation, and true community for me this past week... every message, earnest intention and silent prayer you sent has been felt and received in a real way. Your words and actions have made it abundantly clear that asking for help is a spiritual discipline that allows the Spirit to flow freely between people.

Thank you for remixing my understanding of true love's expansiveness. I will never forget how my village came through to relieve my burden and replaced it with abundant life! I'm convinced there is a people based economy of care poised to replace this isolating grind culture that is stripping so many of us of our humanity when we Ask👏🏾For👏🏾 Help!!! So thank you for allowing me the experience of this truth, so that when I ride for it, I will be unshakable.

#healing
#communityislife
#communitysupport
#wethepeople by @awshields

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17 days ago

I'm still processing the incredible outpour of love and support that has flooded me this past week after asking for support via IG. I wanted to share just a small sample of the many messages I've received that have curated a deep lesson of love and healing for me. Your words have made it abundantly clear that asking for help is a spiritual discipline that allows the Spirit to flow freely between people.

Thank you for all the messages, prayers and good energy you are sending my way. They are altering my entire being! I'm convinced there is a people based economy of care willing to stand in the place of this isolating grind culture that is stripping so many of us of our humanity when we Ask👏🏾For👏🏾 Help!!!

#healing
#communityislife
#communitysupport by @awshields

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18 days ago

I just packed, found a new place, and moved my little family out unexpectedly within 7 days. After the repair guy found mold my landlord rather terminate my lease then test. Capitalism is a beast. When I realized I had to move a second time within 2 months I shut down. 2026 has been a hella of year, and though I have rocked its deep transformative energy with a smile, I'm exhausted. If it hadn't been for my trusted tribe coming over to not just pack, but think for me and be the energy and motivation I needed to push I'd still be sick in that home. Thank you...you know who you are🫂

If anyone else wants to bless me, please do. This dramatic week has taught me that asking for and receiving help is its own spiritual discipline; one that I need some practice with.

So here it is. I need help with the moving bill, a respiratory tincture, lunch, a hug...whatever you're willing to give that will make my life easier. Everybody has a threshold.🩷

Venmo- @awshields
Cashapp- $awshields by @awshields

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20 days ago

Our team touched down in San Juan, Puerto Rico for @galaxy_gives’ Leader Fellowship Gathering and left with our spirits full. ✨

While there, AW Shields moderated “The Conversations We Avoid: Child Sexual Abuse, Community Safety, and New Possibilities for Change.” This was a courageous conversation about accountability, healing, and prevention without relying on punishment or prisons, because holding someone accountable and recognizing their humanity isn’t mutually exclusive.

José Humphreys and Chalice Overy also hosted the first in a series of Galaxy Fellows wellness sessions, “Lead Free: Nurturing Our Light Through Personal Transformation for Collective Liberation.” This session invited fellows into reflection, ancestral connection, and what it means to care for ourselves while leading with purpose.
Meeting in Puerto Rico, the site of Galaxy’s inaugural fellowship convening, and the oldest active colony in the world, added weight and power to it all. The island’s culture and resistance were the backdrop for real connection and healing.

This is the kind of work we love doing – facilitation, wellness design, and space-holding rooted in liberation. If your organization is building something similar, visit the link in our bio and let’s chat.

#HealingJustice #RootCauseCollective #LiberationWork #DecolonizingWellness taken in San Juan, Puerto Rico by @awshields

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a month ago

I love the moon. Even when she strips me of all my illusions she gives me sweet memories underneath her glow. 🌕
Beautiful artwork by @omiiroo !!
And shout out to my ace boom coon with a Pisces moon @tee1lee for being my eclipse survival kit. You're my boy blue! 😍 taken in Oakland, California by @awshields

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a month ago

Taking a moment to pause and celebrate the fact that five years ago I left a REALLY good job a month after giving birth to the little guy in the back, to start @therootcrew and build a dream of a career path that hadn't existed in the world yet.

And today, because I have an amazing client @ficpfmovement that knew school didn't start back until next week, I got to teach my kids what a healing justice practitioner was, and take them with me to show them what it means.

I remember looking in their eyes while breastfeeding on zoom calls without clients knowing. So to watch them walk on this plane knowing that I created something that didn't exist so my soul could carry out it's authentic call in the world AND was a good enough entrepreneur to sustain my OWN household with full 👏🏾 time👏🏾 pay👏🏾 while doing it.…..

IF I ACHIEVE NOTHING MORE,
I can honestly say I did the damn thing,
while no one was watching,
and I'm so effing proud of myself!

#proudmomma❤️
#mompreneur
#blackbusinessowner
#womanbusinessowner
#businesswomen by @awshields

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a month ago

We can’t wait for @awshields to preach in a pink bikini 👙learn more in this clip and watch the full episode in Substack and Spotify! by @awshields

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2 months ago

During our most recent episode of Adorned in Imagination, @awshields talks about the cotton earrings she got from @canyouteachmeaboutcotton and how adornments can challenge, change and empower us

Full episode in Substack and Spotify - 🔗 in bio ✨

#adornedpod #adornedinimagination #cotton #podcastclips #interview by @awshields

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2 months ago

We were honored to be in the room at FICPFM’s “Still Rising: 15 Years of Courage, Care and Change” regional convening in Chicago, where our founder AW Shields moderated a panel on Moving Forward After Experiencing Loss & Developing Leaders. This panel served as a conversation about what it means to keep organizing, building, and leading while carrying grief and transition.

AW opened the panel with this:

“Today we are going to explore what it means to keep building, organizing, leading and dreaming in the midst of grief, transitions, and challenges. With all that we are experiencing, FICPFM knew it was imperative that we think deeply about how to develop leaders in real time while still carrying personal and collective loss, and so I am honored to moderate this necessary conversation and hold space for the rich and raw revelations that grace us today.”

She was joined by three leaders doing this work in their own communities: Bridgette Simpson of Barred Business, Marlon Chamberlain of the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, and Adam Procell of Paradigm Shyft.

This is what it looks like to be in community with movement leaders and abolitionists, people carrying grief and vision at the same time, still showing up for each other and for the work. We’re still sitting with everything that was shared.

@ficpfmovement thank you for the space and the invitation.

#HealingJustice #RootCauseCollective #LiberationWork #DecolonizingWellness #Abolition by @awshields

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2 months ago